Chamber and committees

Louise, for full transparency, I note that I was in one of your establishments only a week or so ago. Having been bought a gin and tonic, I feel slightly seen by your Pat Butcher comment. [Laughter.] The place was fantastic and it was very well looked after, but it was quieter than I would expect in Edinburgh on a Saturday evening. I know from speaking to other people in the sector that there is real pressure on our town centres and that our city centres are not as busy as they have been. There has been behavioural change among a lot of people.

Michelle Thomson and I were both on the Economy and Fair Work Committee, which produced a report recently on town centres. It was interesting to hear some of the proposed solutions and suggestions on what we need to be doing. The sector has dealt with a pandemic; there has been uncertainty about the deposit return scheme, and investment has been needed in relation to that; and legislation on other matters has been rolled out, such as the ultra-low emission zone in Glasgow.

How difficult is it for the sector to forward plan? Given the changes in approach—the UK Government is providing a discount for hospitality—how are you positioned compared with similar organisations in other parts of the UK?

Thank you.

It will perhaps be lower over that period, but do you expect it to be higher going forward?

That probably answers another question that I was going to ask. With regard to the £971,000 figure for the costs in period 1 of 2023-24—that is, for just one month—I think that the Deputy First Minister said in February that the figure for 2023-24 was likely to be no higher than £50 million. You therefore expect the figure to be considerably less than that.

That is a £50 million to £80 million liability, subject to discussion with HMRC.

A lot of the correspondence between the committee and you, minister, has been on the lack of available data. You said that you will provide more information to the committee, but the information that was provided was fairly limited. Why was more information not provided, if it is available?

It is down to evolution rather than devolution or anything else.

What is the chance of that report being acted on fairly quickly?

Thank you. I am interested to know the level of enforcement that exists across the board.

The Welsh pilot is Government funded. Do we know how much that cost? Have any estimates been done of what it would cost if it was rolled out in the Scottish context, given that we have a larger and more dispersed population with larger rural areas? As Claire Calder said, Aberdeenshire Council said that it might cost it an extra £24,000 but that figure could be far higher in areas such as the Highlands and Islands. It would therefore be interesting to know what the Welsh pilot cost and what the estimates are for any Scottish pilot.

Good morning to everyone. My question is along those lines, on enforcement and compliance, so it fits in nicely with the discussion.

Every member of the committee represents a rural or Highlands and Islands community. It is very difficult to deliver services there even at the best of times, as there is huge pressure in that regard. This bill is likely to put additional responsibilities on those services, as well as on all councils. The suggestion that there could be a central body for enforcement is therefore interesting. Perhaps we could get some idea of costs and how that would be delivered, because that is potentially a whole new approach.

Given that current regulations do not seem to be enforced, and that the new legislation will be successful only if it has teeth and is enforced, what confidence do you have that, without either a new approach involving additional resources for councils or a more centralised approach, the new code of conduct will be any better than what we currently have?